Redemption
by tehedward
Summary: QW14!- Day 5: A Jedi had access to powers and abilities that were beyond what the normal person could do. And when a Jedi turned dark, bad things happened.


** I was actually really excited to write this one. It was a lot of fun to write and was definitely the easiest one to do so far, so I hope you all enjoy it.**

**QW14- Day 5: Redemption**

Santana ran as quickly as she could down the separatist ship's corridor. She had to hurry, she had to get there as fast as she could otherwise Quinn would die. Too many had already died in this force forsaken war and she wasn't about to lose Quinn. Especially not to some Jedi hit squad because the council was too lazy or too… too, just too whatever, to try and save and redeem her Quinn.

Jedi are not supposed to form attachments. Attachment can lead to possessiveness, which can lead to jealousy, which can lead to anger, which leads to hate. She had heard the speech at least a thousand times growing up in the temple. And she could see where they were coming from, a Jedi had access to powers and abilities that were beyond what the normal person could do. And when a Jedi turned dark bad things happened.

But Santana didn't care, she was going to find her friend, save her and then they were going to run away together. The Clone Wars may not be over but they were done. Santana was done fighting for a Republic that didn't even exist anymore. She was done giving up a little more of her morals and her soul just so that she could win a battle. She was done with fighting, she was done with killing, and she was done watching the people around her die.

She would save Quinn. The council may have given up on her but Santana hadn't. Quinn's fall had taken them all by surprise but honestly Santana almost couldn't blame her. Quinn and her master had been stationed at Feros 3, a miserable dust ball of a little planet that was unfortunately extremely important strategically. If you had control of it you had control of one of the great hyperspace lanes.

Though the planet was habitable they had found no evidence of life on the planet. It was barren or so they had thought. The fighting between the Republic and the Separatists had been brutal. And due to blockades and the needs of other more inhabited planets supplies had been slow and rare in coming to Feros 3 until finally they had stopped coming all together.

The fighting got worse and worse, eventually they had run out of most of their ammo and the fighting had moved to hand to hand combat. Both Separatist and Republic space forces had long since shot each other down to the planet and so inch by inch Quinn lead the Republic forces to a bloody land victory, her master having been killed earlier on in the fighting, and finally the last commander of the droid army had been captured and every single droid had been either deactivated or destroyed. If it had ended there, Quinn probably would have been granted the rank of Jedi Knight, she would have been a war hero but unfortunately once the battle with the Separatists was over the real war for Feros 3 had begun.

The planet ended up being the home to large hulking beasts that tunneled beneath the surface. Their bodies had a natural electric pulse running through them and combined with the fact that they usually stayed far beneath the surface, so their scanners hadn't picked them up. Quinn had to watch as over the course of three weeks every other living person on that planet was torn apart and devoured. They couldn't evacuate, because all ships capable of interplanetary flight had been destroy. Quinn had sent out a distress call but they never heard anything back.

One by one every person under Quinn's command was killed. And the death of each person had chipped away a little bit more of her friend until finally…

Santana had been light years away but she had still felt her friends fall to the dark side. Video surveillance recovered showed her friend doing things with the force that she didn't even think were possible. She had watched the footage, horror struck, as Quinn fried some of the creatures with lightning. Others she would lift in the air and tear them apart limb from limb, some she would just look at them and their heads would implode.

The devastation had been terrible. And to make matters worse it wasn't a republic ship that answered Quinn's distress beacon but a Separatist one. Count Dooku himself had felt Quinn's fall through the force and had gone to investigate the source of the disturbance personally. He had found Quinn and taken her on as an apprentice.

It was a turning point in the war and not for the better. Quinn led her new droid forces from one planet to the next. Each one was given one chance to surrender and when they refused, they always did, Quinn brutally and ruthlessly suppressed them. Ten different star systems, Republic held star systems, had all fallen to Quinn within just two standard galactic months. It was the most progress either side had made in the war in over two years.

It had been decided just recently that she could no longer be allowed to continue on like she had and so a hit team being led by Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were to find her and take her out. Santana had been horrified, the Jedi weren't assassins, they were keepers of the peace but nothing she said or did could convince the council to reconsider. Santana had even gone to Master Yoda and begged him to do something. But unfortunately there was nothing he could do.

"_To my council on the matter, they have listened not." He shook his head sadly at this, but then a little smirk had appeared on his little green face. "However, something there is, that you may be able to do."_

Yoda had arranged for it so that Santana was a part of the hit squad, they were sending 7 Jedi after Quinn including herself, Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker. Master Yoda had warned her that anything that she did outside of completing the assigned mission, which had been approved by the senate, would be considered treason. He then also told her that in doing this, in trying to redeem her friend she had become a true Jedi.

In a private ceremony he cut her Padawan braid and knighted her. He wished her luck and also wished her and Quinn a long and happy life together. She hugged the little troll fiercely not even bothering to hold back her tears, knowing that whether she was successful or not in her efforts to save Quinn this would be the last time she would ever see the diminutive Jedi Master.

The battle to engage Quinn's fleet was all a bit of a blur, Santana had just trusted the force to guide her and she didn't bring herself back into focus until her and the hit team breached Quinn's ship, the Deliverance. From there Santana took off, leaving the others to fend for themselves. She broke rank, caring for only one thing, finding her friend and getting her out of here before she was murdered. Because that was the only way she could look at this, the sanctioned murder of her best friend.

Count Dooku, Assajj Ventress, General Grievous, all of them were to be captured if possible, but Quinn Fabray got a death sentence, not a chance, not on her watch. Not if there was a chance for Santana to save her, and Santana knew there was more than a chance. Despite everything, Santana knew Quinn hadn't fallen completely, there was still good in her, she could feel it.

She could feel Quinn's presence just ahead, a couple of body guard droids try to block her path but Santana leaps through the air over their heads, activating her blue double bladed light saber and decapitates them, all before nimbly landing on her feet, not once breaking pace in her sprint towards Quinn.

In the background she can hear the battle for the Deliverance echoing. She comes across four more body guard droids but she quickly dispatches them before taking a moment to calm herself. This was it, she opens the door and steps into room that Quinn is waiting in. The door shuts behind her as she enters and it's unsettlingly quiet in here. The room is large and spacious with huge view screens that surround the walls and the ceiling giving a real-time feedback of the battle that is raging outside around them.

Separatist and Republic star fighters and ships explode silently all around them. And standing in the middle of the room is Quinn. Santana deactivates her light saber and begins to walk towards her friend… okay who did she think she was kidding. She loved the other girl, she was either going to die or leave the order today, she may as well be completely honest. And she knew Quinn felt the same way about her, nothing had ever come of it before, both of them too committed to the order to ever break the code like that, but today was different.

"You shouldn't have come here Santana." Quinn says softly, turning to face her. Her face is completely blank, Quinn is doing her best to show no emotion. But her voice and her eyes give her away. Her friend is in pain, and Santana can neither see nor sense any anger in the girl. Just a deep and all-consuming sadness. Quinn isn't consumed with anger or hatred, she is consumed with sadness and guilt and that is how Santana knows Quinn can be saved, that she hasn't fallen completely.

Quinn needs someone who can and will forgive her for her perceived failure at Feros 3 to forgive her for tapping into the dark side of the force and for turning her back on the Republic and the Jedi Order. Other's may not be able to, Santana will be the first to admit that Quinn has caused a lot of damage since her switch, but Santana could and was willing to forgive Quinn of anything. And in Santana's eyes, the Republic and the Order turned on Quinn first. She could be saved, she just needed to be given the chance.

"Yeah, I'm a little hurt that you decided to have this party without me. Love the new look though… very punk-rock." Santana teases, trying to lift the tense atmosphere.

Quinn had in fact changed her look. Her hair was dyed pink and was cut short. It had that just got out of bed but I still look good kind of style to it. She had surprisingly gotten a lip ring and a nose ring as well. Her black shirt was cropped short exposing her midriff and she was wearing a long black skirt that had a slit up the side. All in all not bad, but not really her.

A ghost of a smile flickers across Quinn's face at Santana's words, before she hardens herself again. "Because of our past together, I'm going to offer this once instead of just killing you, turn around Santana. Leave here, forget all about me and never come back. Save yourself."

Santana smiles at her friend. "Funny, I was about to offer you the same chance. Leave here, turn away from this place, run away _with_ me and never look back. Save yourself."

"I…" And for a moment Quinn looks like she desperately wants to take Santana up on her offer. But in a moment it's gone and she's all business. "I have a job to do, leave now."

"Not without you."

"Don't make me destroy you."

"The Jedi have sent a hit squad after you, don't you get it!? They're on their way here, right now! And I am not letting them kill you! You are my best friend, I need you, I love you! Damn it, let's just go!" Santana yells.

A real smile crosses Quinn's face but she shakes her head. "I love you too, I always have but… it's too late for me now, I've done too much to ever go back. Please leave. Abandon this war, the things that my master is planning… you have no idea. Find some place far out in the outer rim, forge a new life for yourself away from all of this and forget all about me. Be happy Santana."

"Not without you!" Santana yells.

Tears begin to fall from Quinn's eyes. "You stubborn fool." She says fondly.

"I'm saving your ass whether you want me too or not!" Santana activates her light saber. "The only choice you have in the matter is whether or not you walk out of here of your own accord or if I drag your unconscious body out of here."

Quinn doesn't say anything, she just gets into her stance as her light saber glides into her hand and activates, its red beam humming sinisterly as it bathes Quinn in its haunting red light.

Neither of them move for a couple of seconds, both of them allowing themselves to fall deeper and deeper into the force and then in a flash, as if somebody had wrung some kind of starting bell, the two girls leap into action.

Santana had always been the better duelist of the two. Her saber skills were praised throughout the entire Jedi Order. But Quinn had a stronger connection to the force and Santana was beginning to see that that made all of the difference. It was all she could do to use the two blades of her light saber to hold off Quinn's attack.

Quinn was everywhere and nowhere, making a counter attack almost impossible. Anytime she made a move to strike, Quinn would be gone, no longer where she had once been. Stepping to the side or leaping over Santana's head and striking at one of her blind spots.

After what felt like an eternity of furious battle Santana made a mistake. She raised one of her blades to block high, but it was a feint on Quinn's part and she finds her saber cut in half leaving her with only one blade. Quinn continues her onslaught forcing Santana back further and further, forcing her to all but retreat. When she tries to jump away she feels a concussive blast of the force, hit her hard, slamming her into the screens mounted on the wall. The screen she hits cracks and the image is lost as it goes to static and she falls to the ground in front of it. Her light saber clattering off to the side somewhere in the distance.

Santana manages to push herself to her hands and knees and she looks up to see Quinn slowly making her way towards her. Santana closes her eyes and she can feel herself begin to fall into despair. She failed. She wasn't afraid to die, she was more than willing to die if it meant that she could save Quinn but that wasn't going to happen. Quinn would kill her now and then there would be no one left to try and help her, she would be forever lost to the darkness.

Santana gets up onto her knees and stares up at Quinn. Her own teary eyes meeting the scared and confused gaze of her friends. Santana could see the despair, the war going on behind Quinn's eyes as she struggled to do this and it broke Santana's heart. She could be saved, if they would just try they could reach Quinn and turn her away from her current path. She had been unable to, but somebody else could do it, but they wouldn't, they wouldn't even try. They had written Quinn off as un-savable and it just wasn't true. Even now as she was about to die she had faith in her friend.

Santana forces a smile onto her face as Quinn stands before her. Tears streaming down her face as well as she prepares to strike the final blow. "Make it fast Querida, do what you got to do and then you get out of here. And remember, I love you and I forgive you."

Santana closes her eyes and prepares herself to become one with the force. She hears Quinn's anguished cry and the hum of a light saber being swung. However nothing happens, and after a few seconds of just sitting there, the only sound is the hum of Quinn's blade, Santana opens her eyes.

Quinn's light saber has to be less than a millimeter away from her neck, but Quinn is standing there frozen. "I'm sorry…" Quinn whimpers before she deactivates her blade and allows it to clatter to the ground as she falls to her knees and begins to sob.

Santana moves in a flash and gathers the crying girl into her arms. "It's okay, it's all going to be okay."


End file.
